“Summer days, drifting away”

Got to love a Grease quote.  Those summer days are well and truly drifting away now.  It’s been 6 crazy weeks since we were in a normal routine and we’ve been busy juggling; spending time with the children, growing our business and hopefully kicking back in the sun a bit. Children or no children, the summer always brings that interesting period where lots of us are away on hols, and so are our customers and clients! Now that autumn is here and the children are back at school or in childcare, do you feel raring to go or slightly manic about the prospect of the whole day stretching out in front of you?  If you remember one thing about this blog post, my advice is not to rush straight in to try and do all the things.

A time of reflection

Stop.  Have a little mini-holiday and think about some of the good things that have happened over the summer.  Make a drink and spend 5-10 minutes enjoying the quiet. A little distance may have given you a new perspective on your business.  Is there something you would like to change?  Perhaps a new product or service inspiration has struck.  Write down your thoughts while your mind is clear and fresh and then return to them in a few days to think about what needs to happen next. After a hectic few months in a different routine, you might feel like your brain is in a bit of a funk.  Don’t panic, be kind to yourself and ease yourself back into the flow.

Take your time

I did a bit of a Google on how to get going after a holiday.  The advice was to get up early so that you can get back on top quickly – I think I have to disagree on this one though.  Yes a bit of preparation and planning will help, but why burn-out all the good relaxed vibes you might have built up after the holidays?  Take your time and start gently. Hop onto your Trello boards and have a review of where you are at and what needs to be done.  If you are really stuck, go back to your brand values to help you re-connect with your brand purpose and re-energise you for the next few months.

Get your thoughts out

It’s hard to get going when you have a million things racing round your head, so start by getting everything out, ideas, fears, tickable to-do list items. Write them all down on a long list or record them on your phone (my favourite method) then type or write them out as you listen to them. Make sure you don’t just leave them on one long list though, and organise them into categories instead. A ‘do now’ list, a ‘future’ list and an ‘ideas’ list is a good place to start.

Re-connect with your brand values

Having a wobble about what your brand values are?  I would invite you to complete my challenge “Nail your brand values in 5 days”. You can access the resources here or join my Facebook group to be notified the next time I am running the challenge “live”. It covers everything from un-muddling the heart of your brand through to customer profiling and how your product or service resolves their problems.  The last time we ran the challenge in the Facebook group we had a great week and I loved this feedback from Gemma. “This process has really helped me focus on what I need to do for my business and my productivity, sometimes it’s easy to get stagnant.” Whoop whoop!

Fill out the Marketing Channel Planner

When you’ve not had time to download your thoughts, but have been spending time looking at what everyone else is doing, it’s easy to get your thoughts muddled on which marketing channels you should focus on. Head over to the resources, section or click this download link to get your hands on the FREE (yes baby) Marketing Channel Planner to help you get clarity on what to focus on, what you should start doing, what you stop and what processes you’re going to put in place to make sure you meet your objectives.

You can’t squeeze six weeks of work into one day

Keep your to-do list manageable and try not to squeeze a week’s worth of work into one short day.  Prioritise what actually needs to be done by categorising your list by “grow” and “maintain” your business.  Check out my recent blog posts with all sorts of productivity tips for you, and come to the Fb group for lots of videos coming soon!

Celebrate successes and prioritise “me time”

Still have that post-holiday “glow”?  Hold tight to it!  By sticking close to your brand values, you can get out of the back to work blues, grow your business and avoid running out of steam before we even hit October. When you get to the end of your first week back, have another moment of reflection and celebrate your successes, they can be big or small – made a new sale? Got to the end of the week without forgetting anything for the kids, it’s all good!  We don’t need to wait for someone else to recognise successes.  Enjoy the little moments and even if the celebration is just a 5 minute nap (I love naps), it’s still looking after yourself and will help you find and keep your groove.

Use your network

Feeling a bit lost and alone?  I’ve said this before, but there are so many supportive groups both online and in person.  If you do feel stuck or blocked, then use your network, I can guarantee someone else will be feeling the same as you and that is a very comforting thought. Got big plans for the business but not sure how to knuckle down and focus. Definitely check out the Fb group for tips, but you could also try finding an accountability buddy to help you out!

Join my group to be the first to know when my courses to help you go live

If any of this has made you think oh yes, this is the approach for me, then I’d love for you to join me in the Facebook group where I help you connect with your brand values and share helpful productivity tips.

You’re not exactly productive when you’re in a funk are you?

Nothing seems to be able to snap you out of it.

Because well it doesn’t happen like that does it?

Is there anything you can snap out of? Anyway, I digress.

Sometimes we have stuff going on in our lives. Unavoidable stuff, that just, well, sucks. Life is hard sometimes. Running your own business is hard, and your mental wellbeing should always come first. Ohh and psst, this list also works for times when you’ve got flu too.

If you can take some time away from your business when you’re in that headspace, I would always advise that. BUT if you can’t right now, here’s how to keep your life & business ticking over until you’re back to the usual powerhouse you are.

If you’re looking for tips on how to get OUT of a funk, this isn’t it so much, this is more just how to not let your life and business fall apart in the meantime.

1. Make a ‘list of enough’.

Not a to-do list.
Not a not to-do list.

Just the things that will be just enough to keep things going until you’re feeling better.

These are some ideas of what to include on your list:
– feed the kids
– get dressed & teeth brushed
– eat nourishing food
– one load of laundry
– activities/nursery for the kids
– bath, teeth & bed for kids
– quick tidy up
– shower for myself

It just reminds me that actually even when everything seems to be falling apart, really I’m actually pretty good at holding things together.

If you can do just enough so that you don’t run out of clean pants, that’ll do you for now.

2. Finish reactive work & don’t take more

I know it’s hard to turn down work or change shipping dates to slow down orders when you’d really just love some monies, but completing outstanding work and giving yourself a break before taking on more is a great next step to not feel too overwhelmed.

If it’s feeling like an absolute nightmare to get anything finished, get in touch with some of your clients and politely explain that due to health reasons you are running a little bit behind and is there any wiggle room in deadlines.

Lots of people will be understanding and perfectly willing to move dates.

You don’t know until you ask.

This might just take the pressure off enough for you to catch your breath.

3. Identify your MIT’s (Most important tasks)

Prioritise!

If you’re still in the middle of having to get a ton of work done, then identify three Most Important Tasks to get done each day. This is good practice anyway, but especially important when we’re not feeling so hot on the productivity/motivation front.

I identify these in Trello with a different coloured label, and then anything else I don’t get done that day, it’s not the end of the world.

When running my e-course or workshops, I encourage people to use three different labels to differentiate different tasks, ‘personal,’ ‘work maintain’ and ‘work grow.’ Times like this call for just doing the maintenance tasks. Don’t fret about doing the things that grow your business when you’re in a funky place, your head won’t be in the right space and that will come across in your marketing anyway.

As you start to feel better, you can start to work on these things again, writing, plotting and planning.

4. Don’t panic about social media

Instagram will still be there when you come out of your cocoon again. We kind of get ourselves worried about algorithms and what we might miss by taking time away, but not only can taking time away from social media make you feel better, it will also still be there!

Maybe your engagement will go down a bit, maybe not as many people will see your posts when you do post, but THAT’S OK. And maybe it won’t. And, and, maybe that would have happened anyway.

If you have the kind of business that you need to be available on social media, then do the bare minimum you can, then turn off notifications, scheduling in time to come back and check it. Schedule things up front with a tool like Later or Buffer.

Just don’t scroll with no purpose. That endless scrolling does not help you feel better.

You can also let your audiences know that you won’t be there for a little while. People take holidays, and we tend to forget that sometimes! You don’t have to be contactable.

5. Do a post mortem

As you come back to life, don’t worry about missed time. You’ll spend more time worrying that you could have done more. Be grateful that you’re feeling better, take it slowly and start working on your business again.

Come out slowly. You don’t need to do all at once. You don’t want to get back into things and then find it too overwhelming again.

Write down a few things, journaling is a great way to get out of a funk when you’re in one, but another good idea is to afterwards write down these three things.

• What triggered you into that place in the beginning?

If you can identify some of the trigger signs then you have a chance to catch them earlier next time, and do the things that make you feel better, before you feel too low to do them.

• What things made you feel better?

If you did certain things which seemed to help, such as reading, walking in nature, spending time with friends, or journaling, write those down to create a little ‘get yourself out of a funk’ checklist for next time.

• What are you proud of yourself for?

Did you give yourself a break, what went well during that time, did you get clarity on where you’d like to take your business? Write down why you’re still frickin’ awesome. Cos you are, and we all have bad times. Some worse than others. But we all do.

And things will get better.

Much love to you all!

Please, if you feel like what you’re going through is more than just a ‘funk’ and your mental health or wellbeing is suffering, then please contact your GP, or your healthcare provider, or visit the Mind.com website for more information on where to get help.